Gun for driving in nails

ABSTRACT

This disclosure relates to a pneumatic gun for driving in headless nails of very small diameter comprising a magazine for the nails, a head member provided with a guide channel having a reception groove for the nails extending to the exit of said channel and communicating with said magazine, means for feeding said nails from said magazine into said groove. The gun further comprises an elongated striker member slidably movable in said channel. This striker member has a cross section with a flat center portion, a flat face thereof and side legs projecting from said flat face and extending along the length of said striker member.

United States Patent Inventor Dino Mazzer Corso ltalia 10. Conegliano Veneto, (Province of Treviso), Italy Appl. No. 837,387 Filed J uue 30, 1969 Patented June 29, 1971 Priority July 4, 1968 Italy 60238-A/68 GUN FOR DRIVING IN NAILS 2 Claims, 3 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 227/130, 227/ 1 39 Int. Cl B25c 1/04 Field of Search 227/120,

Primary ExaminerGranville Y. Custer, Jr. Attorneys-Guido Modiano and Albert .losif ABSTRACT: This disclosure relates to a pneumatic gun for driving in headless nails of very small diameter comprising a magazine for the nails, a head member provided with a guide channel having a reception groove for the nails extending to the exit of said channel and communicating with said magazine, means for feeding said nails from said magazine into said groove. The gun further comprises an elongated striker member slidably movable in said channel. This striker member has a cross section with a flat center portion, a fiat face thereof and side legs projecting from said flat face and extending along the length of said striker member.

PATENTED JUN29 l97| INVENTOR.

DINO MAZZER BY M 154 AGE GUN FOR DRIVING IN NAILS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a pneumatic gun for driving in nails of small diameter, particularly nails having a diameter less than 1 mm.

Various types of pneumatic guns for driving in nails are known and are employed in carpentry and packing operations and the like for driving nails into wood.

Such pneumatic guns include a striker'or punch member fast with a piston controlled by a compressed air feed valve in order to carry out a to-and-fro stroke for each nail to be driven The compressed air causes the striker to strike the nail which is consequently expelled from the gun along a guide channel. The feeding of the compressed air occurs by means of the connection of the valve to. an external air source by means of a flexible tube.

In the gun there is provided a magazine which houses a certain number of nails arranged in side-by-side relationship to form a single body known as a strip. In the magazine there is provided a suitable spring which causes the advance movement of the group or strip of nails and pushes the foremost nail in the expulsion position when. the striker reaches the end of its return stroke.

The striker which transmits the necessary thrust to the nail usually has a circular, rectangular. or square cross section. The minumum size of the cross section of the strikers is substantially equal to that of the nail.

These known types of pneumatic guns operate satisfactorily for driving in nails having a diameter greater than 1 mm. When it is necessary to use nails having a diameter around 1 mm. or less the striker has a size such that it is no longer able to support an impact sufficient to provide the nail with the necessary thrust and the striker is consequently subject to frequent breakage.

The main object of this invention is that of providing a pneumatic gun for driving in headless nails of very small diameter to be driven into wood, plastic materials, furnishing materials and the like. The use of nails and particularly heattreated headless nails having'a diameter less than 1 mm. is extremely advantageous in a wide range of applications. Since these nails prevent the danger of splitting in the wood material into which they are driven and eliminate the necessity of carrying out special work operations in order to cover or hide the head of the nails by means of plastering and the like.

Another object of the invention is that of providing a pneumatic gun which is of simple structure and manufacture.

Another object of the invention is that of providing a pneumatic gun of safe and efficient working.

Another object of the invention is that of providing a pneumatic gun which comprises a small number of component parts and is produced in materials which are readily available in commerce.

A further object of the invention is that of providing a pneumatic gun which may readily be loaded and which permits the operator to establish when the nails of the load are near exhaustion.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the invention, there is provided a pneumatic gun for driving in headless nails of very small diameter comprising a magazine for the nails, a head member provided with a guide channel having a reception groove for the nails extending to the exit of said channel and communicating with said magazine, means for feeding said nails from said magazine into said groove, an elongated striker member slidably movable in said channel and having a cross section with a flat central portion, a flat face thereof and side legs projecting from. said flat face and extending along the length of said striker member, wherein according to the improvement the striker member comprises further between said side legs a central rib projecting from said flat face and extending parallel to said side legs and slidably fitting into said reception groove.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will appear more clearly from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the gun according to the invention, illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 shows an exploded perspective view of the gun according to the embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a section taken along the line A-B, of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a view similar to that of FIG. 2 showing the loading of the nails.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT With reference to the drawing, reference numeral 1 generally indicates a gun for driving in headless nails which comprises a striker member 2, a head member 3 and a magazine.

Said head member 3 comprises a first plate 5 which is mounted at one end of said magazine 4 and a second plate 6 secured on said plate 5. The plate 5 is arranged so that a pointed end 7 thereof projects from the body of the magazine 4.

The opposite end 8 of the plate 5 is connected to a coupling member 9 having a bore 10. On said coupling member 9 there is mounted a pneumatic valve (not shown), which controls the feeding of compressed air to the gun 1.

The plate 5 has a longitudinal central slot 12 which is substantially larger than the nail to be driven in. On either side of said slot 12 and parallel therewith the plate 5 has two edges 13, 14 which extend along its sides starting from said end 8. The plate 6 has a peripheral form identical to that of said plate 5 and is provided with two lateral grooves 13 and 14 which are designed to receive the two edges 13 and 14- and with two holes 15 and 16 which permit the plate 6 to be secured to said plate 5 by means of screws. In the central portion of said plate 6 there are formed three longitudinal grooves 17, 18 and 19 which are arranged so that they extend parallel to and above the slot 12 when said plate 6 is secured on the plate 5.

The cross section of the groove 13 is substantially equal to half the cross section of one nail to be driven in. The grooves 17 and 19 are arranged at an equal distance on either side of the groove 18 and are larger than the latter. The grooves 17 and 19 have a depth substantially equal to that of the lateral grooves 13 and 14' and define between them a central rail 22 in which the groove 18 is formed. The height of the rail 22 above the bottom of the grooves 17 and 19 is less than that of two further rails 20 and 21 which are formed between the grooves 17 and 159 and the grooves 13' and 14 respectively.

The striker member 2 has a piston portion 23 which is designed to slide inside said said bore 10 of the member 9 and an elongated punch or ram portion 24 which has a shape such that it can enter the cavity defined by the plate 5 and the longitudinal grooves 1'7, 18 and 19 of the plate 6 when it is mounted on the plate 5. More particularly, the punch portion 26 comprises a flat portion 25 having a flat face 26, designed to slide on the plate 5, and a face 27 opposite the face 26. On the face 27 there is formed a central longitudinal rib 28 and two lateral legs 29 and 30 extending long the length of portion 24. The longitudinal central rib 28 is designed to be slidably engaged in the groove 18 of said plate 6, while the lateral legs 29 and 30 are designed to be slidably engaged in the grooves 17 and 19 respectively. The legs 29 and 30 are intended to render the guide of the punch member 24 more rigid while the central rib 2% forms a striker member proper for the expulsion of a nail S to be driven in.

Naturally, the thickness of the flat portion 25 together with the thickness of the rib 28 is equal to that of a nail S.

The magazine 4 comprises a longitudinal body inside which there is formed a slit 31 which'extends along the entire length of said magazine 4 and at one end opens into the slot 12. In-

side the slit 31 there are loaded a certain number of nails arranged in side-by-side relationship and are urged towards the slot 12 by a spring (not shown).

In order to prevent clogging of the nails inside the magazine which could occur if the gun were to be reloaded without having previously completely emptied the loader, there is provided a suitable observation hole 32 which extends transversely to the slit 31. When the observation hole 32 is completely freed by the spring means which urge the nails it is certain that the magazine has been completely emptied and that the gun should therefore be reloaded.

The working of the gun for driving in headless nails according to the invention is extremely simple.

When the magazine 4 has been loaded with a certain number of nails, the striker member 2 is caused to advance by actuating the valve for the feeding of compressed air arranged on the member 9. During its advance movement the stroker member 2 pushes the foremost nail S (FIG. 3) along the channel 18 until it is expelled from the head member 3. At this point the striker member 2 begins its return stroke, as in the guns of conventional type, and when it reaches its return stroke end the spring in the magazine 4 pushes out the next nail from the slot 12 into the groove 18.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that many modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the appended claims.

lclaim:

l. Pneumatic gun for driving in headless nails of very small diameter comprising a magazine for the nails, a head member provided with a guide channel having a reception groove for the nails extending to the exit of said channel and communicating with said magazine, means for feeding said nails from said magazine into said groove, an elongated striker member slidably movable in said channel and having a cross section with a flat central portion, a flat face thereof and side legs projecting from said flat face and extending along the length of said striker member, wherein according to the improvement the striker member comprises further between said side legs a central rib projecting from said flat face and extending parallel to said side legs and slidably fitting into said reception groove.

2. Pneumatic gun according to claim 1, in which said side legs have a cross section substantially greater than that of said s central rib and said central rib and said flat portion have each a thickness equal to halfthe thickness of said headless nail. 

1. Pneumatic gun for driving in headless nails of very small diameter comprising a magazine for the nails, a head member provided with a guide channel having a reception groove for the nails extending to the exit of said channel and communicating with said magazine, means for feeding said nails from said magazine into said groove, an elongated striker member slidably movable in said channel and having a cross section with a flat central portion, a flat face thereof and side legs projecting from said flat face and extending along the length of said striker member, wherein according to the improvement the striker member comprises further between said side legs a central rib projecting from said flat face and extending parallel to said side legs and slidably fitting into said reception groove.
 2. Pneumatic gun according to claim 1, in which said side legs have a cross section substantially greater than that of said central rib and said central rib and said flat portion have each a thickness equal to half the thickness of said headless nail. 